My Speech on the College Debt Bill:
Thank you for welcoming me to the floor. I am John Cornyn and I will be addressing bill number 1-2016, Endorsement of Student Financial Incentives.
Every year, the cost of attending college continues to rise much faster than the rate of inflation. This year, student debt in the United States has reached over 1.2 trillion dollars. Delinquency rates on student loans are as high as they were on mortgages during the housing crisis.
Admitting that I do support some of the strategies this bill presents for decreasing student debt, this bill unfortunately does not present any viable options for its funding, and therefore it should not pass.
I support this bill’s proposal to increase state school funding by 200 billion dollars. I believe that in order to combat rising student debt, we need to go to the root of the problem instead of throwing money at it in the form of federal student loans. Increasing funding for state universities will help bring down tuition as a whole, so that students do not need to borrow as much and will have less debt.
However, the primary function of the American government is to “to provide for the common defense” of the American people. This means building and supporting a strong military that has the resources that it needs. I cannot and will not support this bill primarily because of Subsection C of Section 2. This section proposes redistributing 18 billion dollars of taxpayer money originally meant to support the military and our “common defense”. In these times, we cannot afford our military to show any kind of weakness.
If the cost of college continues to increase annually at the current rate, student debt will exceed the national average income by 2027. We need to make attending college possible for Americans, but to do so we cannot risk jeopardizing the safety of our citizens.
Every year, the cost of attending college continues to rise much faster than the rate of inflation. This year, student debt in the United States has reached over 1.2 trillion dollars. Delinquency rates on student loans are as high as they were on mortgages during the housing crisis.
Admitting that I do support some of the strategies this bill presents for decreasing student debt, this bill unfortunately does not present any viable options for its funding, and therefore it should not pass.
I support this bill’s proposal to increase state school funding by 200 billion dollars. I believe that in order to combat rising student debt, we need to go to the root of the problem instead of throwing money at it in the form of federal student loans. Increasing funding for state universities will help bring down tuition as a whole, so that students do not need to borrow as much and will have less debt.
However, the primary function of the American government is to “to provide for the common defense” of the American people. This means building and supporting a strong military that has the resources that it needs. I cannot and will not support this bill primarily because of Subsection C of Section 2. This section proposes redistributing 18 billion dollars of taxpayer money originally meant to support the military and our “common defense”. In these times, we cannot afford our military to show any kind of weakness.
If the cost of college continues to increase annually at the current rate, student debt will exceed the national average income by 2027. We need to make attending college possible for Americans, but to do so we cannot risk jeopardizing the safety of our citizens.